For me, this recipe was part of a "Pantry Challenge". I basically plugged a few ingredients in that I had on hand and this was one of the first recipes that popped up. I did scale this recipe back by half. I cannot find jicama anywhere in the area I live, so I just omitted it. I also did not add the jalapeno pepper because I was feeding two kids. To make this a little......cheaper, I did skip the step of cooking the chicken in the barbeque sauce only because I didn't want to overuse the little bit that I had in case I needed it for another recipe. I just cooked the chicken with some spices in my slow cooker for most of the day, cooled it and then pieced it out for the salad. Very interesting take on pasta salad, my two kids especially liked it. NO leftovers. I would make this again.

Reviewer:

Great recipe but made a few changes to make it work for us. Replaced mayo with 3/4 cup non-fat Greek yogurt & 1/4 cup light ranch dressing. Added tomatoes & lime juice. Upped cumin to 2t. Subbed snap peas for green pepper just cause its what we had. Also used whole wheat pasta.

Reviewer:

Only deviated by cutting some of the ingredients in half – I only used one can of beans, one cup of frozen corn, one jalapeno (since it was all I had), one red and one orange pepper (again, all I had!), cooked up 4 good sized chicken breasts and I didn’t use jicama. And I also used one box of medium bow tie pasta, as that was all I had. This was surprisingly fantastic! My husband and 4yr old devoured it. We had it warm the first night then cold leftovers for lunch the next few days (it makes a TON!). It tasted great both ways – but I preferred it cold. This is a great summer recipe and would be perfect for potlucks since it makes SO much!

Reviewer:

This is a very versatile salad to fit any family's taste. I've made this a several times and the family loves it with only a couple modifications due to our taste preference: only (1) orange and (1) red bell pepper, no jalapeno peppers and didn't have cilantro... Have to agree with previous reviews to leave out the jicama until ready to serve. I've made it with out any peppers or jicama (just didn't have any) instead added can of green beans & kidney beans...
Tip: you bake the chicken breast in a smoky seasoning of personal preference & the BBQ sauce... We have also combined ranch dressing with the BBQ sauce (we use that on several salads!) Yum!!!
Thank you for a wonderful and versatile salad nenithel!

Reviewer:

Left out the pasta, mayo, jicama, cumin. Grilled some onion, sweet peppers, a serrano pepper, squash on skewers until tender/crisp, and grilled corn wrapped in the husk and foil, and served veggies with grilled chicken tossed with the corn, (scraped off the ears) black beans, a little BBQ sauce, diced mozzarella, fresh oregano, thyme, cilantro. So good!

Reviewer:

My only problem with this recipe is that I didn't have a bowl big enough to comfortably fit all of this in (had to leave out the red onion). The flavor was great and this would be perfect to bring to a summer get together.

Reviewer:

This was very good and receives lots of compliments, but gets 4 stars as written. It's a 4.5 star with the following: The chicken step is a lot of work. If your local market sells fresh, cooked chicken, mix it with the cup of BBQ sauce and it saves a lot of time. Unless you really LOVE bell peppers, 4 bell peppers is a lot. So if you just LIKE bell peppers, reduce to 2 or 3 peppers and you'll have PLENTY. I substituted celery for the remaining amount of peppers and it adds a lot. I jullienned my jicama and it wilted by serving time. If serving cold, there are a few things that don't hold that well: Jicama and the cilantro. I'd suggest saving out at least some of the cilantro (since it does add a lot of flavor during the chill) and all of the jicama until closer to serving time.If you add a bit of green onion, it also helps to freshen the look of the salad. Finally, my impression was that it was a little too sweet (might depend on your BBQ sauce), so I added some lime mixed with a bit of water, olive oil, salt and pepper to add a slight citrus dimension -- about 1/3 of a cup of this lime vinagrette. Next time, I'll probably just whisk some lime just into the mayo before adding it into the salad. Makes a ton of food.

Reviewer:

My husband and I both loved this dish! I used what I had onhand - red pepper, frozen corn, and cilantro. I skipped the black beans, jicima, and red onion only because I didn't have the ingredients. I was looking for a light summer dish - and this was perfect! I look forward to making it the next time we have friends over for dinner.